


In This Silence, I Must Scream

by DimeStoreMystery (wrightgotwronged)



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Horror, M/M, Psychological Horror, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-14 18:38:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10542243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrightgotwronged/pseuds/DimeStoreMystery
Summary: After a routine mission in an abandoned Kett space station goes south, Liam thinks he's trapped alone in the depths of space...he is gravely mistaken.





	1. The Void Takes Thee

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tofsla for the beta!

Liam found that vastness of space so amazingly contradictory. Something that was forever expanding, yet crushing in its suffocation. How he could see the light of a million stars billions of miles away, yet he himself hung in a dark, ever-expanding void, surrounded by Andromeda’s lethal danger and overwhelming beauty.

 

“Liam?” A distorted voice shouted over the comms. Ryder. “Dammit, Kosta, don’t you die on me!”

 

There was a throbbing ache in his temple. He was dizzy, his brain floating off into the void and his body floated amongst stars and debris.

 

Liam could see the broken hull of the station as he drifted. If he squinted he could see two familiar figures holding onto the edge of the gap, barely avoiding being lost in the expanse of space themselves.

 

Stupid way to go: a simple salvage job on an abandoned Kett space station. Should’ve left the damned thing floating in space. Not even enough intel to make the job worth it. That was before the hull decided to rip itself in half.

 

There was a tight, dull pain in his ankle. He looked down to see a power cord around his ankle and his lower calf, a tether keeping him close to the station.

 

“I’m good, Boss.” He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “Think I hit my head on the way out, though. Knocked something in the comms outta place, you’re coming in all fuzzy.”

 

“It could be worse. You were quiet for a while.”

 

“It is a relief to hear your voice again,” another voice rumbled in his ear. Jaal. He sounded worried, but alive. Which is all that mattered right now.

 

“You say that now.” Liam forced out a laugh before coughing. “Wait ‘til I’m talking your ear off on the Tempest, again. Then you’ll be beggin’ for a way to shut me up.”

 

Jaal’s laugh was deep, and always a few seconds too long “Perhaps. Let us make it back to Tempest first before testing the accuracy of that statement.”

 

“Liam, SAM said something about an airlock being on our side of the hull. Do you think you can make it back to us?” Ryder’s voice was tired, strained.

 

Liam pressed a button on his chest— nothing changed. “Jump jets are shot. Must’ve cracked something when I got spaced. Don’t think the cord will let me get that far anyway.”

 

The cord was latched to the floor on the opposite end of the gap. It must have been used to transfer power to the doors that used to be firmly attached to the station. Liam was surrounded by debris. Supply crates, terminals, and various ship parts, all floating around. He reached out for something, anything he could grab onto.

 

Panic hit him like an oncoming shuttle. Liam could feel the pangs of fear run down his spine, into his fingers.

 

“Maybe if I—no, I can’t. There’s nothing to grab. What if I—” He trailed off, running out of ideas.

 

“I will get him.” He thought he could see Jaal moving, probably getting ready for some stupid jump.  


Liam threw his hand out, like he could stop Jaal by sheer force of will “No! No. You jet out here with no tether and you’ll have a one way ticket to the void. Just,” he paused. “Just go to the airlock.”

 

“If you think I will simply leave you—”

 

“You’re running out of time,” Liam cut Jaal off. “No reason for all of us to die out here.”

 

“Liam please, darling—” Jaal stopped short, composing himself  “Do not do this.”

 

Liam chuckled. “You’ll be ok. Strong and clear, right?”

 

A sob escaped from Jaal’s lips. The sound hit Liam like a slap in the face. He didn’t mean to hurt him.

 

“Don’t be an idiot, Liam. We’re coming to get you!” Ryder snapped, her voice piercing through the static of the broken comm.

 

“Wait, don’t.” Liam pointed to the other end of the gap. “I can see a door over there. Looks like a second airlock. Could probably use the cord to pull myself over.”

 

Silence over the comms. Ryder and Jaal were probably gauging just how much of a bad idea this was. The idea of splitting up wasn't ideal, but neither was dying here.

 

It didn’t matter what Ryder said next. Liam had already made his decision.

 

He stretched his arms out, grasping the cord with his fingertips. Strong fingers wrapped themselves tightly around the thick wire. As one hand kept on, the other would reach out, pulling him closer and closer to his destination. Liam kept pace in his head. Left. Right. Left. Right.

 

“Alright, Kosta,” he whispered to himself. “You’ve survived worse. Hustl, a new galaxy, the fifth grade. This is easy…”

 

The dull throbbing in his temple had turned into a roaring pain. Exhaustion settled into his shoulders. Liam stopped pulling and gave himself time to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. In. Out. He started the motions again. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Each pull had been harder than the last, his own tiredness seeping into his focus. Left. Right. Left. Right.

 

Ground. He spread his palm against the metal floor of the station. Solid. Liam braced himself against the wall of the hull and pulled himself to his feet.

 

“Alright, I’m on the other side of the hull. I’ve got visual on the door, gonna try and head inside.”  


Static buzzed over the comms, the borrowed time Liam’s damaged earpiece had running out.

 

Liam’s hand found railing welded to the wall of the hull, his fingers holding on with every ounce of strength he had left. Bending down, he cut the power cord around his ankle with his omni-tool. 

 

He pulled himself along the wall, reaching the console that activated the door. The keypad glowed an eerie green. _Yes._ Liam took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. No more comms. No more cord. No more stalling. He slammed his hand against the control panel, the door doesn’t move. Liam kept his hand against the panel, willing— begging— it to open.

 

Liam startled as the door shot open. Shaking it off, he moved quickly, grabbing onto the edge of the door and pulling himself in. He could feel the vacuum of space at the back of his head, tempting him to just let go.

 

In, Liam kicked out, hitting another console with his foot. The door closed swiftly behind him.

 

The airlock was comforting in its noisiness, vastly different than the emptiness of space. The station’s machinery whirred as Liam floated through the air. Gravity stabilization must’ve kicked the bucket when the hull blew out. He didn’t care.

 

Liam closed his eyes and just waited, still and limp as his body floated through the airlock.

 

_Stabilization Online. Air Pressure Normal._

 

A robotic voice cut through Liam’s trance. The interior door of the airlock rushed open. With stabilization came gravity. With gravity, Liam crashed to the ground, slamming his head against the metal floor.

 

He sprawled out on his stomach, not moving. His chest rose and fell with steady breaths. Vision swimming, he closed his eyes, accepting the restful void his mind had given him.

  
  
  
  



	2. The Crunching of Bones

For as long as he could remember, Liam had been an early riser. Before the sun peaked over the horizon, Liam would be up. During his Hustl days he would already be in the gym. When he was a kid, he’d make himself a bowl of cereal and be done with breakfast long before his parents woke up.

 

There are times, though, when Liam could sleep for days: his body relaxed in the deep embrace of unconsciousness, the warmth of his blankets healing his aching muscles. The darkness calming his tired and anxious thoughts.

 

Right now, Liam was wrapped in blankets and buried deep in the cushions of his couch. when he felt a familiar hand touch the back of his neck.

 

Liam stirred, “What’s going on? Does Ryder need something?”

 

“No.” Jaal’s deep rumble cut through the silence of the cargo bay. “Have you been here all day?”  


“Been here since Ryder took you and Vetra to Kadara, so I guess you could say that.”

 

Jaal stroked the back of Liam’s neck with his thumb. “Are you ill? Should I alert Lexi?”

 

Liam reached up, aiming to place his hand on Jaal’s but ended up grabbing his forearm instead. “Do that and we aren’t having sex for a week.” Liam’s chuckle was muffled by the couch cushions. “In all seriousness, I’m fine. Just needed to recharge my batteries.”  


“Is that an idiom?”

 

“Yeah, it means I needed to rest up. So I can be at my best when I need to be.”

 

Jaal didn’t reply. His hand moved, running down the length of Liam’s spine and resting on the small of his back.

 

“If that’s supposed to wake me up it’s not working.”

 

“I have other ways to wake you.” Jaal laughed and the sound spread warmth through Liam all the way down to his extremities.

 

Wake up.

 

A chill ran down Liam’s spine as he woke with a gasp. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. He clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the metallic floor of the space station. No chance of a couch, and Jaal was— he had no clue where Jaal was.

Shit. How long was he out?

 

Liam braced his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, he looked around. No hints here. It seemed that he was on his own.

 

This part of the station was different from the place they docked. The station entrance was clean and well-lit—his part was trashed. Terminals were destroyed, now only messes of wires and broken glass. The bright lights of the docking station were replaced with the red glow of emergency lights.

 

Liam’s steps were tentative: He took a few, and paused, turning to look behind him.He repeated the process: A few steps. Pause. Turn around. A few steps. Pause. Turn around.

 

Every time he looked back there was nothing there. Yet, as he took his few steps forward, he could feel a weight at the back of his neck. That every time he took his forwards steps, something was watching, waiting, for him to make a mistake.

 

The station was built of disorienting hallways and weird open spaces that seemed to have served no purpose besides providing an intersection for more hallways to branch out from.

 

It was claustrophobic, feeling around in the dark. Liam honestly thought he was walking in circles. No way the Kett built one of their own stations like this. Maybe he was lost?

 

He was definitely lost.

 

“Shit,” He said under his breath. “Who doesn’t keep a map of their station around? How did anyone manage to find anything in here?”

 

It felt like hours before the walls started looking different. Different as in: there was something splattered all over them. Liam squinted. The stuff looked familiar. He’d seen this before—remembers seeing leaking out of Kett armor. He tapped the splatters lightly with the pad of his finger. They were dry, but had a residue as if it were something sticky, like someone had spilt beer and hadn't cleaned it up after.

 

Liam travelled further, following the splatters. They migrated from the wall to the floor, the sticky substance pulling at the bottom of his shoe each time he took a step.

 

A crunch cut through the silence of the room. Liam froze, he could feel something give under the press of his boot. He looked down slowly, like he was trying to will himself to see what he stepped on.

 

An arm.

 

Just that. An arm. It was Kett.The fingers on the arm looked broken, all bent out of shape. He lifted his foot and nudged the arm with it. Ew.Well, that was what he’d been stepping in then.

 

Blood. Kett blood.

 

If Ryder was here, he’d make a joke. Something along the lines of: looks like the Kett could use a hand. He’d pause for a groan from Ryder. Jaal would do that low rumble where he wanted to laugh but didn’t want to give Liam the satisfaction of knowing that Jaal found him funny.

 

They weren’t here. The only things here were Liam and the blood.

 

The blood from the arm, that turned out to be part of a bigger trail that led down a dark hallway.

 

It was in that moment Liam figured out what he was definitely not about to do. He walked forward, going anywhere but down that particular hallway. Well, he would have, except obviously the only way forward was blocked by various debris and Liam’s shit luck.

 

“Alright, Kosta.” Liam turned to face the dark hallway. “You’ve got two options. Go down the ominous hallway while following the equally ominous blood trail, or turn back and go the way you came. Back into the labyrinth.”

 

Back into the winding maze of hallways. Back wasting time being lost. Wasting time that could be spent finding Jaal.

 

It was in that moment Liam figured out exactly he was going to do. His hand drifted to his hip, meeting air and then grabbing at an empty holster.

He must have lost his pistol when he got spaced.

 

Despite every fiber of his being telling him not to, Liam followed the blood trail.

 

The hallway lead to an actual, well-lit, honest-to-god room, instead of the intersections that Liam had become so accustomed to. It looked like a lab, with a large console and screen at the opposite end of it. There were lab tables with equipment, like one of the labs back on the Nexus.

 

Well, it would have looked like the labs back at the Nexus, if it weren’t for the broken glass and the blood and viscera on the walls.

 

Liam’s equilibrium shifted. He could feel a something getting caught up under his feet as he tumbled to the ground. A sharp pain shot up his arm as the palm of his right hand slammed onto the floor. Making a habit of this, aren’t you, Kosta? He groaned as he rolled over, lifting up his hand to inspect the damage. Bits of glass stuck out from the fabric of his glove. He was bleeding—the glass must’ve just barely pierced the surface of the glove. He tried rotating his wrist.

 

Big mistake.

 

Liam hissed as pain flooded his entire, going along his shoulder blade and into his back. As if he’d sprained his wrist tripping over his own feet. At least, he thought it was his own feet.

 

Liam turned his head, seeing what actually caused his sudden mishap: a body—another Kett.

 

He jolted, kicking the body away from him and scooting across the floor, his injured wrist pressed closely to his chest. He made himself take deep, slow breaths, trying to gain what little was left of his composure.

 

Using one of the lab tables, Liam pulled himself to his feet. Morbid curiosity pulled him toward the body. It was one of their foot soldiers. This Kett seemed to be the owner of the arm and the blood trail. Liam winced—from the look of it, the arm must’ve been ripped right out of the socket through sheer force. And that wasn’t the end of it: the chest plate had also been sliced right through with some kind of blade. It was thicker than an omni-tool, that was for sure. Liam leaned closer, realizing that the Kett’s face— no, head— had been crushed. There was a jagged line right down the middle of it.

 

Were those teeth marks?

 

The sound of heavy footsteps snapped Liam out of his train of thought. He froze, listening and counting his odds. It was only one set of footsteps, but these were loud. Whatever was making its way towards him was bigger than any Kett he’d heard. He took in the scene again. Whatever was coming survived the slaughter that had wrecked the lab.

 

Or caused it.

 

The footsteps were getting closer, and Liam was running out options again. He desperately looked around, his eyes setting on a locker in the corner of the lab. Should be big enough. Not too many dents. Door seemed sturdy, he could shut himself in.  He flung himself towards the locker. His hands fumbled with the door. Shit. Of course it’s locked. Come on. Come on.He yanked the handle, almost ripping the door of its hinges before stuffing himself in and pulling the door shut.

 

The steps grew louder and louder. Liam felt his pulse beating in his ears. Closed his eyes, as if he wished hard enough he could turn invisible.

 

The steps kept up an even pace. It must be patrolling. The steps came near Liam’s hiding place.

 

Liam held himself completely still. He could hear the sound of claws dragging along the metal floor.

 

Definitely not Kett.

 

He heard a  low growl from the other side of the locker door. Then the crunching of bones.

 

He wanted to scream. He wanted to murmur, to cry, to make any noise that could give voice to his panic. But all he could do was stand there with his eyes closed, listening to the sounds of bones snapping under the pressure of teeth.  


Liam trembled. Between the tightness of the locker and the /thing/ outside, what had been left of his composure was pretty much drained.

 

The crunching stopped, but the thing didn’t move. Liam willed himself again into stillness.

 

Why wasn’t it leaving?

 

Its heavy footsteps came closer to Liam’s locker and stopped. The thing was right outside. Liam could hear the low rumble of its breath. It stepped closer. Closer. He could feel the weight of the thing pressing against the tiny coffin that he was trapped in.

 

It was _listening_.

 

The thing moved again.way but still close. It stopped again, listening.

 

It knew he was here. Didn’t it?

 

He felt boxed in. This thing wasn’t leaving anytime soon, and if he had to spend more than another two minutes in this locker he would be about ready to just let the thing come kill him.

 

Liam realized exactly what he was going to do.

 

The thing was slow and big. Liam might not have a lot going for him right now, but his legs still worked. He could outrun that thing, he knew it. He could lose it in the labyrinth. The plan was foolproof, right? Yeah, totally foolproof. He’d be exposing himself though. That was a risk.

 

Liam steeled himself. Then he burst out of locker and began running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact 90% of this chapter was written at 9am! 
> 
> Also I have social media! You can send me a tumblr ask at dope-lore.tumblr.com or if you prefer good shitpostin' check out my twitter @dopelore

**Author's Note:**

> What's this?? She's writing again? After a long hiatus I return with some more horror, this time in space!! I hope y'all enjoy!!


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